Half and half

chapter 7

Chapter 7

“AAAHHH I'm A BIRD!” The black feather was the size of my forearm. It was sleek and very pretty. I got up from my crouch and darted into the bathroom. I looked in the wall-sized mirror on the wall and gasped softly. Somehow, my chest was bare. And rising from my back… was a beautiful pair of wings. They were enormous. They completely covered the back wall from view, which is why I didn’t notice a wide-eyed Dimitri enter until he was practically beside me. He startled me and my wings instinctively shot up, quivering. Dimitri held out his hands in a calming gesture. “Chill, don’t fly away. Don’t want to shoot you or anything.” He said. I hoped he was joking. “I’m not going to fly away.” I told him. He looked me up and down. “Your eyes are creepy.” He decided. “wha-” I looked in the mirror and gasped. My eyes were golden. I looked up and down. “What do I do? How do I make this...” I waved at my wings vaguely, “disappear?” he shrugged, “let’s ask Dhaile. She seems to know a little bit more than us. Or so I think anyway.” He shrugged again. I frowned, but followed him out of the bathroom. Thaila had been in the middle of making a point, waving her hand wildly, her eyes wide, but Dhaile was standing in the middle of the doorway, obviously blocking Thaila from entering. It took a bit of experimenting for me to fold my wings to be able to fit through the door. Dimitri shoved me aside, feigning irritation, but the corner of his mouth was curled up. We nearly gave Dhaile a heart attack by appearing shoving each other. “Jeez! You scared me.” she surveyed me but I kept my eyes narrowed so my golden eyes, so like her own, were kept hidden. “you.” She suddenly snapped. I jumped, my wings raising themselves for flight again. “Sorry. But, you need to learn to control them. You are going to learn to fly.” Her eyes gleamed. Thaila still stared at me, stunned.

Two ‘hours’ later- time doesn’t pass in the Principia- I discovered what flying was. It was falling on my butt, my face, my back, my legs, crushing my wings- mainly just a lot of pain. Two hours later, I had healed myself about fifty times. Dhaile’s ‘methods’ consisted on throwing myself from the roof. That moment, I hated Dhaile. “Look, why don’t we try my way.” I begged. Dhaile raised her eyebrow; “your, ‘way’ consists of standing motionless with a concentrated expression on your face for one hour. Not happening.” She told me. “Please?” I had kept narrowed my eyes, but now I widened them, looking innocent. Thaila hadn’t stopped staring at me, so nothing changed, but Dhaile gasped softly. “okay.” She agreed uneasily. I grinned. I took a step back. I tried to find a muscle on my back I didn’t know. Suddenly, I found that clenching and unclenching my muscles, my wings stirred. “Yes…” Dhaile breathed excitedly. I somehow, managed to lift my wings. I brought them swooshing down and I shot into the sky. I kept in control, counting the steady beats of my wings. I had been trying too hard. It came natural. Completely natural, as if I had been born to fly. I circled over the Principia, watching the acres of snow-covered forest zip by. Finally, I headed back to the clearing where all the school had come out to see what had caused Dhaile’s racket. “Go Dylan! Whoooooo!” she yelled. I rolled my eyes of solid gold and flapped my wings faster. It only took the barest twitch of them to send me shooting forward, so I made it fairly quickly. Everyone had their face turned up toward me. I circled lower to the ground, still not quite landing. And of course, I messed up my ‘graceful descent’ by plowing into Thaila and knocking us both to the ground. Hands pulled me up and soon, everyone surrounded me, congratulating me. I locked my eyes with Thaila’s green ones. She took the hint. She pushed through the crowd and grabbed my arm, pulling me away from the crowd. Even if time didn’t pass in the real world, or outside world anyway, time did pass in the Principia, and now it was technically 11pm. We both melted into the darkness, Thaila with her black outfit, and me, with my black wings and black jeans. We sat on the step while the crowd looked for me. “Urgh. I’m tired.” Thaila complained. I grinned evilly, “I thought you said, ‘we don’t sleep, duh’.” I taunted her. She scowled, “I said the Principia doesn’t sleep. We do.” She explained. “Then go ahead and sleep, I don’t mind.” “thanks.” She mumbled. She leaned against me, resting her head on my shoulder, and promptly fell asleep. I got up, careful not to disturb her, and picked her up. I headed toward Dhaile’s office, which was dark. I couldn’t see anything, which was why I was so startled when a voice rang out from the darkness. “I’ll take her. Thanks.” I jumped so bad I nearly dropped Thaila. I turned and Dimitri emerged from the shadows. “Jeez, no need to panic.” He said, smirking. “At least you know how to fold your wings now. Can you accept them back?” he asked curiously. I frowned, “accept them?” I asked. Even if I couldn’t see him-it was so dark- I could tell he rolled his eyes. “Yeah, how do you think you’re going to go to school if you have a pair of gigantic wingies on your back, huh?” he stepped forward and took the edge of my wing, shaking it for emphasis. His smirk didn’t disappear. I scowled, jerking my wing out of his grip. “How?” I asked, getting my anger out of the way with difficulty. He turned serious immediately going into teacher mode. “Close you’re eyes, think you’re… hugging someone.” I raised my eyebrow. “And, if I may… how do you know this?” I asked him. He shifted and I could tell this question made him uncomfortable. “That’s not for me to tell.” He said stiffly. He glanced at the window where figures dressed in black blended into the night, still searching for me. “Feel your wings.” Dimitri continued. I tried to picture my wings folded neatly by my back I nodded. “Now, imagine you folding them tighter, into your body. Picture them disappearing.” He looked pointedly at me. I tried to ‘admit’ my wings. There was a hiss and my back shirt appeared again. I searched my back with my fingers. No wings. Dimitri grinned and clapped my back. “Now, let’s go to school.” I groaned, “I want to sleep!” he laughed. “It’s still three in the morning in you house. You’ll be able to sleep enough before we have to go.” A startling thought hit me, “Dimitri, why do you go to school?” I asked him. His grin widened, “to keep an eye on you of course. Now, we can’t have you sprouting wings the moment someone says… something significant.” I felt a familiar tug in my shoulders. “Don’t think about it!” he snapped quickly. Dogs. Think of max. I told myself. I pictured my Alaskan malamute. He was huge, almost to my shoulder. Immediately, the tug lessened. I took a deep breath. Then I realized Dimitri was laughing hard, holding his hands to his sides. I scowled, “come on.” I snapped. He straightened, still laughing and grabbed my arm. Immediately the office disappeared. Images tumbled past my field of vision. Forests, snow, cities. My feet touched the ground and I staggered. Dimitri stopped laughing and whistled. I looked around my room, picturing how Dimitri would see it. My ‘room’ was the whole fourth floor. I have wall sized panoramic windows, a king-sized bed with a black duvet. I have an entire wall covered with shelves filled with books. I had a private library downstairs, of course, but sometimes I just wanted to read in my room. I had a polished marble floor throughout the room and a small ‘living room’ with couches facing a wall-sized TV and French doors leading into a glass balcony. Not to mention my walk-in closet. “What?” I asked. “Nah, I didn’t know you were as loaded as I am.” He said cockily. I raised an eyebrow. He laughed and said, “I’ll invite you over one day” then all the books in the shelves rattled and he disappeared. I rolled my eyes and let myself fall backwards with a sigh. Then I noticed a note on the foot of the bed. It read in a lazy scrawl, wear black tomorrow, ok? Just in case. I sighed and fell into a deep sleep.

An angel with pearly white wings leaned over a polished marble stone. In the stone, an image shone with light and clarity. A girl with a white billowing dress ran barefoot, dodging trees. She was running with supernatural speed, her golden eyes wide and terrified. She ripped a branch out of the way and the angel gasped softly. On her wrists, black tattoos curled, disappearing under her willowy sleeve. The angel muttered something and the image changed into a few miles south of the girl. Barely-there shadows raced in black blurs toward the girl. The angel snarled and pushed away from the slab. His surroundings came into focus. He was standing in the middle of a marble courtyard with a large crystal fountain. The light was dazzling. Behind him glittered beautiful crystal gates. He turned toward them. I recognized his troubled golden eyes and messy black hair. Ash approached the two lounging guards. They looked up, obviously surprised. “Ash.” A guard said warningly. Ash ignored him and kept walking. The guards tried to stop him, but he flicked his wrists and thy both froze with surprised expressions on their faces. Ash yanked the gates opened and peered before him. A tingle of excitement and dread tricked through him. He forced himself to calm down. The gates seemed to end in the edge of a cloud. After the cloud, empty space stretched. “I keep my promises, Char.” He murmured in a velvety voice. Then he jumped.